Israel-Hamas War: What happened on Day 337?

The IDF will change its combat tactics in the Gaza tunnels following the murder of the six hostages, KAN News reported Friday, citing military sources.

American-Turkish human rights activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, succumbed to her wounds on Friday after being shot in the head by Israeli forces during a weekly protest against settlement expansions in the West Bank, according to Palestinian Authority-run news outlet Wafa. 

During the weekly protest in Beita, south of Nablus in the West Bank, IDF soldiers opened fire at the protesters using live ammunition, the report noted. Eygi was subsequently critically wounded in the head. The 26 years old activist was evacuated to Rafida Hospital in Nablus, where she later died.

Fouad Nafaa, the head of the Rafidia Hospital, told Reuters that a woman arrived at the hospital in a very critical condition with a serious head injury.

"We tried to perform a resuscitation operation on her, but unfortunately, she died," he said.

Wafa’s report noted that the IDF used live ammunition, stun grenades, and tear gas in an attempt to disperse the protest in Beita, which, in addition to fatally wounding Eygi, caused shrapnel to injure an 18-year-old Palestinian.

Israeli soldiers guard after an attack by Jewish settlers in Burin village, near the West Bank city of Nablus, June 18, 2024 (credit: NASSER ISHTAYEH/FLASH90)

Eygi was part of the Faz'a campaign, which supports Palestinian farmers against military and settler violations. Additionally, similar to Rachel Corrie, who was killed in Rafah in 2003 while attempting to interfere with IDF operations, Eygi was a member of the International Solidarity Movement, a Palestinian-led movement.

Fouad Nafaa, the head of the Rafidia Hospital in Nablus, told Reuters the woman arrived at the hospital in a critical condition, with a serious head injury. "We tried to perform a resuscitation operation on her, but unfortunately, she died," he said.

Protests in Beita are frequent, with tensions high over Israeli settlement activities in the area, according to Wafa.

Responses to the reports

The Israeli military stated that during a violent public disorder, stones were thrown at IDF forces, who responded by shooting at the lower body of the main instigator of the rioters, according to the IDF.

Additionally, the Israeli military said it was investigating the reports, emphasizing that the details of the incident and the circumstances in which she was hit are under review.

The IDF has yet to respond to The Jerusalem Post's request for a comment on the incident.

"The Israeli occupation killed an American solidarity activist against the occupation and settlements. Our deepest condolences to her family and friends. This is another crime added to the series of crimes committed daily by the occupation forces, which requires holding its perpetrators accountable in international courts," Ynet cited Hussein al-Sheikh, Secretary General of the PLO Executive Committee.

"We have learned with deep regret that our citizen Aysenur Ezgi Eygi has been killed by the Israeli occupation forces," The Turkish Foreign Ministry responded to the reports in a statement.

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said: "We are aware of the tragic death of an American citizen, Aysenur Eygi, today in the West Bank. We offer our deepest condolences to her family and loved ones. We are urgently gathering more information about the circumstances of her death, and will have more to say as we learn more. We have no higher priority than the safety and security of American citizens."

"I condemn Israel's barbaric intervention against a civilian protest," wrote Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on X. He further stated that Turkey "will continue to work on every platform to end Israel's occupation and genocide policy, which has been continuing for almost a year."

İsrail’in Batı Şeria’daki işgal karşıtı sivil bir protestoya karşı yaptığı barbarca müdahaleyi lanetliyor, saldırıda hayatını kaybeden vatandaşımız Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi’ye Allah’tan rahmet niyaz ediyorum.…

— Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (@RTErdogan) September 6, 2024

Erdogan ends his post by citing the number of Palestinian dead reported by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which has also been repeatedly criticized for distorting casualty figures.

Additional incidents

Simultanously to the protests in Beita, a 13-year-old Palestinian girl was killed by IDF gunfire in the village of Kiryat, near Shiloh, and a 34-year-old man was wounded by gunfire in his hand, KAN News posted on X on Friday.

ילדה פלסטינית בת 13 נהרגה מירי צה"ל בכפר קריות, באזור שילה. בן 34 נפצע גם הוא מירי בידו.
גורם ביטחוני: לוחמי מילואים הגיעו למקום וביצעו ירי כדי לפזר התפרעות אלימה, במהלכה עשרות מתנחלים ופלסטינים יידו אבנים זה לעבר זה. הירי שהוביל להריגת הילדה מתוחקר@carmeldangor @OmerShahar123 pic.twitter.com/1zLqX5ZIwZ

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) September 6, 2024

According to a security source, reserve soldiers arrived at the violent riots, and after dozens of settlers and Palestinians threw stones at one another, the soldiers opened fire in an attempt to disperse the violent incidents.

The gunfire that led to the girl's death is under investigation.

Another American activist killed 

In March of 2003, American activist Rachel Corrie was killed in Rafah while attempting to prevent an IDF bulldozer from demolishing a home near the border with Egypt.

The IDF has a history of demolishing homes and infrastructure used by terrorists.

Nearly a decade later, a Haifa district court judge ruled that Israel was not responsible for Corrie’s death, noting that soldiers present at the time had done “everything they could” to prevent harm being inflicted on those at the scene.

A month after Corrie's death, 22-year-old British activist and photography student Tom Hurndall was killed when he was shot in the head by Bedouin-Israeli IDF sniper Taysir Hayb.

Hurndall spent nine months in a coma before succumbing to his wounds.

Hamas has added new demands to its list of conditions for a Gaza ceasefire-hostage deal, the New York Times reported on Friday, citing one Arab and a number of American officials.

These new demands were added after the terror group announced last week that they would begin murdering the hostages should IDF forces get too close. 

Hamas’s new execution policy was reportedly put in place after Operation Arnon, which saw four captives rescued in June. 

Following Hamas’s new policy, the bodies of six hostages were recovered from a tunnel in Rafah. The IDF said they were killed only days before the military arrived.  

According to the NYT, Qatar’s prime minister has been pushing for the Gaza-based terror group to compromise on its deal conditions. After months of this pressure, Hamas dropped the additions to the deal. However, two American officials claimed that the terms of Hamas’s agreement have returned to the table. 

MOURNERS MARCH during the funeral of Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin in Jerusalem on Tuesday. (credit: Gil-Cohen-Magen/Reuters)

Hamas adds new demands

Anonymous sources told the NYT that Hamas increased the number of security prisoners it demanded to be released in the opening phase of the deal.

Qatar also reportedly offered Hamas three alternatively worded compromise agreements, according to Husam Badran, a senior Hamas official based in Qatar. Badran added that Hamas representatives chose one of these alternatives.

The terror group also agreed to focus on the hostage-prisoner swap with a possibility to look at other issues.

“We did that because we’re keen on the issue of a ceasefire,” Badran said. “If there are some phrases that will make the negotiations easier and lead to the same result - the end of the war - we have no problem.”

One of the said issues is the Philadelphi Corridor, from which Hamas demands an Israeli withdrawal.

Officials said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had also added to Israel’s demands for a deal.

The UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) association issued a warning late last month against International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan for issuing arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

UKLFI stated on their website that Khan is "breaching these rules by misleading the Court" and accused the prosecutor of "failing to update and correct information previously provided, and not providing information and evidence exonerating the accused."

The association also stated that they would consult with the ICC and Bar Standards Board (BSB), as they also allege that Khan also breached the English Bar's Code of Conduct. They also state that Khan's applications against the Israeli officials have not been published, and the prosecutor's summary of them in a public statement is not sufficient from May of this year.

Other organizations join the cause

NGOs such as the International Legal Forum (ILF), Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC), Bnai Brith UK (BBUK) and Jerusalemites’ Initiative (JI) sent joint observations to the ICC sating that Khan's summary of his applications against Netanyahu and Gallant were accurate, then they were false.

UKLFI also cited a report from last March where Khan's applications were also based on inadequate information, but still asked the court to issue arrest warrants.

ICC PROSECUTOR Karim Khan speaks during an interview in The Hague, earlier this year. (credit: PIROSCHKA VAN DE WOUW/REUTERS)

UKLFI chief executive Jonathan Turner told the Legal Futures news source "that UKLFI intended to submit complaints to the BSB and ICC 'for the violations of their respective rules identified in our letter to Mr. Khan."

He noted to the source that Khan declined to inform whether he would investigate these arguments.

At least 13 Palestinians were killed and 15 wounded in Israeli strikes on a Hamas control center in a school sheltering refugees in Gaza, the Palestinian Authority's official news agency WAFA reported early on Saturday.

The Israeli army said in a statement it had "conducted a precise strike on terrorists who were operating inside a Hamas command and control center... embedded inside a compound that previously served as the 'Halima al-Sa'diyya' School in the northern Gaza Strip."

Almost a decade ago, Amir Tibon moved with his wife to Kibbutz Nahal Oz on the Gaza border. They arrived in the wake of a lengthy war that had brought tragedy to the kibbutz, and took part in its healing as they started their own family.

Nine years later, when a much deeper catastrophe struck Nahal Oz, Tibon’s family was at its center, and their story spread across the world.

The former head of the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), Nadav Argaman, strongly attacked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday for his speech on the Philadelphi corridor on Monday.

In an interview with Danny Kushmaro on Channel 12, Argaman said that Netanyahu's speech was "the best show in town," but was "hollow" and did not present the truth about what is happening in Gaza and the North.

Lt. Col. Eli Dekel, a former intelligence officer who specializes in the study of Egypt, spoke with Maariv, he was asked if Egypt is interested in weakening Hamas?

"In my opinion, Egypt, since 1956, since the Suez Crisis, has had a huge interest in bleeding Israel continuously," Dekel said.

As the parents of Israeli hostage Omer Neutra took the stage at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual convention, the crowd rose to its feet, applauding and chanting “Bring them home.” Many in the crowd wore yellow ribbons and dog tags symbolizing the captives’ plight, a focus of the audience and speakers at the event.

Ronen Neutra, Omer’s father, opened his speech with a moment of mourning for the six captives executed by Hamas last week. The audience stood again, in total silence.